Responsibilities
by Sixty-four K
Summary: Lust has a surprising request for Envy. Written for the Moms Made Fullmetal week on Tumblr, under the prompt "Love and Responsibilities: 'How did I wind up responsible for this kid'"


"Envy. Envy, listen to me."

Envy glanced upwards from where they sat, hugging their knees to their chest. " _What_ , Lust?" They honestly didn't want to hear what Lust had to say- it was probably just another job for Envy to do, something that Father could have told them himself. Lust loved to be in control, and Envy wouldn't encourage her if they could help it.

Lust looked down towards her sibling, an uncharacteristically humble look in her eyes. "I've been… having an odd feeling lately, and I want some advice."

Envy rolled their eyes. "Wow. Someone's insecure."

"Make fun of me if you want to," said Lust, dropping to sit next to Envy. It was odd to see someone so… regal, for lack of a better word, sitting on a grubby floor like this, and Envy didn't think that it suited her. "I've just been wondering… do you ever get worried, doing jobs for Father? Worried that your Stone might run out?"

Envy let out a barking, short laugh. "Not really. I mean, I hate getting hurt, so I'm kind of nervous about that, I guess… but I can't say that I'm ever worried that my stone will run out."

"I just wonder what would happen if it did," said Lust. "I mean, where would I go? What would happen to me?"

"Who knows?" Envy yawned. "I mean, it's never going to happen- Father can always help us if we are dying, so we don't need to worry about it."

"I suppose so," said Lust.

They sat there in silence for several minutes- an odd silence, neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable- simply silence that expectantly waited to be broken. Finally, Lust spoke. "Envy, I want you to promise me something."

Envy eyed her suspiciously. "What?"

"If I was to… die…" Lust began, "I want you to promise that you will take care of Gluttony."

Envy groaned, tipping their head back in frustration. "You're _not_ going to die, Lust! And you really baby Gluttony too much. He's old enough to take care of himself, or, at least, he would have been a long time ago if it hadn't been for you catering to his every want!"

"That might be so," said Lust, "but the fact remains that he needs to be told what to eat, how to act, and where to go so that he stays out of trouble. Every time I've let him go on his own, he's somehow managed to have something bad happen to him. He needs someone to watch over him, and you're the only other person I can trust to do that."

"Come on, Lust," growled Envy. "You're too soft, that's what. Trying to be like humans, with their stupid families. Well, I'm not going to-"

Envy stopped their rant upon noticing the expression on Lust's face. Her eyes were vacant, her mouth devoid of her normal smirk, and it was the closest thing to sadness that Envy had ever seen her express. It made them feel uncomfortable.

"Ok, fine, whatever," said Envy, sighing. " _If_ you ever die and _if_ Gluttony actually needs watching, I promise I'll do it. Happy now?"

"That's all I wanted," said Lust, rising from where she sat. "Thank you, Envy."

Envy watched their sister leave, elegantly as always, and they sighed, resuming their fetal position against the wall. Who did she think she was? Gluttony's _mother_ or something? Always babying him… she hadn't done that for any of the _rest_ of them. Although, she had always liked Greed… she'd been pretty torn up when he had run away, insisting that they search for him when none of the others had shown any concern for his whereabouts.

"Are you okay, Envy?"

Envy looked up from where they lay. Gluttony stared down at them, and Envy rolled their eyes. "Yeah, no thanks to you."

"What did I do?" asked Gluttony, plopping himself down next to Envy.

"Aw, nothing," said Envy, sitting up. "Only now I'm supposed to be your new mom if Lust dies."

Gluttony didn't seem all that concerned about the idea of Lust dying, for some reason. Envy guessed that he had interpreted "dying" as only being severely injured, which most of the homunculi could easily recover from. "What's a mom?" asked Gluttony.

"Oh, well…" It was hard to explain. Envy had played the role of a mother before, in many of their jobs. They had slipped into a family, replacing the mother, taking her place in order to find out information from the family, but they had spent as little time with the children as possible. Something in those kids' eyes always seemed as if they could see right through Envy, that they knew that Envy wasn't their real mother, as good an actor as the homunculus was.

"Like Father, but a girl," said Envy lamely, unable to think of any definition that Gluttony would understand. "You know, someone who takes care of their kids."

"So, Lust is our mom?"

Envy rolled their eyes. "I guess. She only takes care of you, though- all she does for me is boss me around."

"Well…" Gluttony looked thoughtful. "She holds us together, though, don't you think? I mean, she stops us from arguing, and all three of us work together really well. It's almost like we're a… a family or something."

"That's a stupid human concept," snapped Envy. "But... " they stopped. "I guess you're right, about Lust keeping us in line. I mean, I wouldn't get along with anyone if Lust didn't make me." They chuckled. "Well, and Father too. But Lust makes me feel better about doing stuff than Father does."

"Gluttony? Where are you?"

Lust was calling, and Gluttony instantly became alert. Envy punched Gluttony's arm good-naturedly. "Well, go on then. Don't leave 'Mom' waiting!"

"Coming, Lust," called Gluttony, sprinting off after her voice. Envy watched him bound away, smiling more fondly than they would admit. Gluttony was a good kid. It wouldn't be a huge hassle to watch him if the occasion should arise, although they were sure that it never would.

Lust would keep on watching out for them, keeping them in line, as she always had.

* * *

 _A/N: I hope this didn't stray too far from the Moms Made Fullmetal event's goals- I'm a huge homunculi fan, so I had to include the gang in here somehow, even if they're far nastier than the rest of the gang that we've been celebrating. I've always thought that Lust had a fairly motherly relationship with Gluttony, at least, if not Envy as well, and the homunculi "family dynamic" seemed to deteriorate rapidly after her death. I also noticed that after her death, Envy is the one telling Gluttony what and what not to do, so I thought that Lust might have handed the responsibility down to them. Lust may not be a nice person, but she does seem the most concerned out of the homunculi about family._

 _Thanks so much for reading, everyone! I'm really thankful for the positive reception that I got on my previous stories, and especially for the comments (which I'm sorry that I haven't replied to yet). Just one more story to go. Thanks, guys!_


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